My Condo Neighbor is a Smoker, What Can I Do?

The smell of
cigarette or marijuana smoke in a condo is an unpleasant, but all too familiar
scent for many homeowners in the city. With the recent legalization of cannabis in
Canada, the problem is becoming increasingly frequent. Smoke emanating from
within a neighbors condo can enter yours through the front door, windows and
shared electrical sockets. In older buildings which typically aren’t sealed
perfectly, the issue can be particularly severe and unpleasant. Much of the
problem is caused by air currents and pressure which cause the smoke to drift
into your home rather than staying in your neighbors condo.

It’s often the
case that your neighbor may smoke in their living room and open their window to
let some of the smell out, perhaps even to prevent others from smelling it. But
the result is a change in air pressure, causing air to rush from outside into
their apartment. According to Jack Prenter, the founder of ChoreBliss Toronto, “this pressure
pushes the smoke into the hallway” of the building, where it can enter others
homes. For this reason, it’s often necessary to talk to the smoker directly and
to ask them to work with you to minimize the smell. Ideally, they will smoke on
their balcony and as long as your windows are shut, you will experience little
to none of the smoke. The primary issue is when neighbors smoke inside their
condo, which often happens during the bitter months of the year when Toronto
balconies are covered in snow.

What does the law say?

According to the Smoke Free Ontario Act, tenants and
owners are prevented from smoking in the common areas of multi-unit buildings.
However, there is no law in Ontario that prevents people from smoking in their
private residences. Although there is no law preventing it, condo’s, property
owners and landlords are entitled to demand that their building is 100%
smoke-free. Therefore, one measure you can take is to encourage the building to
become entirely smoke-free by enacting a building ruling. Be aware, this can be
hard to pass and make take a long time. Likewise, a lot of people smoke and
therefore getting a board to pass such a rule might be challenging. Currently,
there are a limited number of condos in the city which have banned smoking.

It’s worth noting
that Section 117 of the Condominium
Act states that the building must prohibit any activity
in common areas or units that are likely to cause injury to others. Countless
studies show that second hand smoke can be dangerous to your health and
therefore a neighbors smoke being allowed to enter your unit would be in
contradiction to the ruling. Subsection 17(3) of the Act clearly states that
the Corporation has a duty to take all reasonable measures to be in accordance
with the Act. Therefore, if you wish to lobby your building to enact a
non-smoking policy, or at least to take steps to prevent all smoke from
entering your unit, you might wish to use this Act as justification.

Preventing the smell from entering

If your neighbor
is unwilling to change their behavior, you will need to take measures to
prevent the smoke coming into your home. The key is to alter the air flows so
that the smoke isn’t sucked into your residence. To start, you should try to
identify the key points of entry. If your neighbor is across the corridor, it’s
almost certainly only entering through the front door. While next-door
neighbors on either side might have shared sockets and neighboring windows
where smells can creep through. Use your nose and a damp finger to sense where
the smell and air are flowing through most intensely. By doing so you’ll be
able to find out what you need to do to create positive air pressure which will
prevent smoke from being sucked in from the hallway or neighboring condo.

Often the most
obvious cause is the gaps on the side and bottom of your front door. In which
case, contacting your building manager can resolve this. They will often be
willing to provide rubber insulating strips which can form a tight seal when
the door is closed, preventing air from coming into your home. Likewise, you
can seal electrical sockets easily with foam inserts which block any small
cracks or gaps. Very rarely smoke can also come in through your windows.
However, in almost all of the city there is double or triple glazing to prevent
the cold from getting to you and therefore the chance of cigarette smoke
entering a closed window is low. If none of these methods work, you can take a
large fan and point it towards the most common entry point. The fan will create
positive air pressure and prevent smoke from entering. Alternatively, if you
know that it’s only coming through the front door, opening a window will also
create a pressure that will instantly push all of the smoke into the hallway.